Wenger backs England recall for Wilshere

02 November 2017

While the Gunners boss feels Wilshere should be handed a recall, Press Association Sport understands he will not be included in Gareth Southgate's squad for the forthcoming friendlies against Germany and Brazil.

Wenger has rotated his first team in cup competitions and in the league and is preparing to start Wilshere with Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud against Red Star Belgrade on Thursday night, where a victory will secure progression. His last game for England was in the shock Euro 2016 defeat to Iceland. He is confident Wilshere is ready to for it.

"Yes, I think he's ready, personally", Wenger told reporters at his pre-match news conference ahead of Thursday's Europa League meeting with Red Star Belgrade. He was not three weeks ago but he is today.

Arsenal have plenty of good midfielders - at least as many as England do - and Wenger hopes that Wilshere can prove himself again at the worldwide level. In every single competition, he's ready to play.

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"I wish him to score as many goals as Benzema with the French national team". "I don't know how you can keep a super-fit Jack out of the England squad".

Wilshere was last called up for worldwide duty a year ago when, on loan at Bournemouth, he was an unused substitute against Scotland and Spain.

"My biggest, pleasant experience this season is how focused the whole squad is in every single game", he said. Even in training when they play against each other it's very tight.

Wilshere has featured in the Europa League as Wenger selects an nearly completely rotated side in Europe and the League Cup.

"I wanted to give him six months not to think about that and see where we go".

The Arsenal boss has used his second string for both the Europa League and Carabao Cup, and said the team's attitude across all competitions has really pleased him.

"They all want competition, they all deserve competition due to their quality", Wenger said, adding that he has no reason to change his habit of playing two separate XIs for the Premier League and Europa League.

"If you look at the number of minutes played by all of these players since the start of the season, many of them are in very competitive shape and that should be an advantage for the rest of the season".